An aircraft from the Customs Surveillance Service has been joined by a Search and Rescue helicopter from the Salvamento Maritimo, searching for two boats some 35 miles off the coast of Torrevieja on Monday night.
The Guardia Civil are also involved in the search operation, using their SIVE equipment that monitors the waters of the country from land, on this occasion looking for the boats believed to be carrying immigrants from north Africa heading to Europe.
A small boat was located on land in the Orihuela municipality earlier in the day, with these two small boats being spotted at 16:57, launching the full scale search.